Music and communication

This post was written as a submission to the monthly All About Parenting Blog Carnival hosted at About.com. This month’s theme is music and submissions are due March 3rd.

Dalia and I just enrolled in a Music Together class. Actually, it’s a class inspired by Music Together, but the songs are in Hebrew, and it’s called Share A Shirah.

As an American who is raising her daughter in her second language, it’s been wonderful to both connect with native speakers and with fellow crazy Americans who see the value in raising their kids in Hebrew.

Music has been called many things over the years, as generations innovate and create new norms. Noise, garbage, incomprehensible, radical. But, as we move past types of music and perceptions of music, we can look to the power that is inherent in music. The power to connect.

For me, most of all, I seek to connect my daughter to her family. Then to her community. Then, her people and culture. Finally, to the peoples of the world. Introducing multiple languages has been one way for me to build those connections on her behalf.

As we show up each week to sing, pound on drums and laugh, I’m beginning to see another dimension to music. It’s not only a means to an end – the goal being language acquisition.

Music is a language. And it’s one that surpasses vocabulary. For those of us raising pre-verbal babies, it’s second only to the language of touch, of energy.

Music is something we can enjoy together. It is how we can learn about each other and communicate. And years from now, these same songs will transport us back to these magical days of Dalia’s childhood.